Lunatic

Photo: Sunset at the North Pole with the moon at its closest point. Forwarded by Rosen.

I heard there is going to be a lunar eclipse tonight? Not visible in Karachi? Why? (Is there like a back-side to this lunar eclipse thing or a partial eclipse visible elsewhere - how does this disco ball work?)

I thought I'd find out at around 2.00 A.M. So first I tried to take a peek from the many house windows. No, the moon was not to be seen from those angles. I reminded myself that I have a new promise: to examine and experience everything as close to the source as possible. Trying to be as subtle as I can be with a creaky lock & key on a silent night, I stepped on the moonlit terrace.

Now here is where I must stop. How can and why be described what I saw and felt? One must experience things themselves when and where they can. The beauty of the moon is available across the globe - and tonight, some lucky lunatics will be enjoying watching the moon veil and unveil...

It was a cool pearly light that shone on the terrace floor and flitered through the balcony. To inhale in the lovely air and to absord the silvery light, I sat on the terrace floor. Inhale, exhale... Move the arms in the air and feel the currents of energy... touch the light!

When I was young I experienced the pleasure of sleeping on charpoys on the roof of our home in Punjab of Pakistan. One could see everything from frost trails to crystal halos to shooting stars to bats flying in the night. It made the world look very large. In the modern, adult life, when the pain of living begins to press on to the heart, the remembrance of those nights is the best alternative cure of experiencing such a night itself. You see, the pain of modern living is alleviated to a great degree when we life our heads up. It is then that we can be consoled that the world is much, much larger than we might be feeling at that moment. And consequently, life has much more to offer than what we might be focused on.

What a gift it is to have a moon to look up to! I don't think my life and all its struggle would ever be worth it if I had not had the opportunity to enjoy many a lovely, mysterious moons alighting the skies with their cool silver fire.